Scottish Company Law

The second edition of this successful book incorporates many important developments, such as the changing judicial approach to directors' duties and disqualification orders, recent developments in auditors' liability and the effect of the House of Lords decision in Sharp v Thompson. New legislation includes the Competition Act 1998 and the Human Rights Act 1998. Recent work of the Law Commissions on Shareholder Remedies and Directors Duties is examined. The ongoing debate on corporate governance is brought up to date with the incorporation of the Greenbury and Hampel Reports and the Combined Code on Corporate Governance and the work of the DTI on reform of company law is explained.

Company Law Essentials guides you through how companies are created, governed and protected by UK law. End-of-chapter summary sections of essential facts and essential cases will help you to identify, understand and remember the key elements.

This book is one of the first to link company law to the law of succession by concentrating on family businesses. It shows that, to understand the legal framework underlying the daily operations of family businesses, one needs legal analysis, empirical data, psychological and sociological knowledge. The book works on the premise that, since many businesses have been founded by families, practitioners need to develop an understanding of the legal background of such businesses and build up experience to be able to create contracts, trusts, foundations and other legal mechanisms to give shape to systems and procedures for the transfer of shares and control within the family. Comparing the national legal order, techniques, and mechanisms in a range of countries, the book examines parallel developments in these fields of law across the world. Finally, it demonstrates the room for companies, shareholders and the members of a family to develop individual solutions within the legal framework for transferring businesses and shares to the next generation.

'Mayson, French & Ryan on Company Law' is the ideal companion for both students studying this topic and practitioners working in the field. Still the only textbook on company law to be updated annually, this edition continues to deliver dependable and fully up-to-date coverage of the law. The provision of accurate technical detail and examination of theory and quotations from key cases is paired with a straightforward written style and uncomplicated layout.